Africa

Tanzania

• Sustaining Coastal Fishing Communities
• Building civil society capacity for poverty reduction

Sustaining Coastal Fishing Communities

Project purpose: The project aims to (a) enhance the capacity of the Department of Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries (DASF) of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) to contribute to Tanzania's needs in marine/fisheries sciences and (b) to improve the ability of the UDSM Institute of Journalism and Mass Communications (IJMC) to contribute to rural development. It also aims to enhance the capacity of UDSM to address gender-equality and socio-economic issues in fishing communities in partnership with the UDSM department of sociology and anthropology.

Key results to date: Two graduate students are assessing fish stocks in the Indian Ocean, assisted by two fishermen trained in fish tagging. Three master's students are studying the sociological aspects of the fin fish fisheries, seaweed cultivation and marketing, and the distribution of milkfish. Two master's students completed coastal household socio-economic surveys and research, one of whom now lectures at the University of Dar es Salaam and the other teaches locally. One PhD student has graduated after a short course at Memorial University of Newfoundland and is now a member of the Department of Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries (DASF) at UDSM. Two training videos on fisheries issues are being used in the BSc fisheries program and have been shown to government officials, resulting in improvements to sanitation at the main fish market. Production of ten instalments of a radio program called Voices of the Coast is underway. Ten participants from the Department of Fisheries and the National Museum of Tanzania attended a short course on the taxonomy and curation of fish collections. Equipment and materials provided for DFAST include a 20 foot vessel equipped with solar powered habitat mapping and fish tracking devices.

Building civil society capacity for poverty reduction

Project purpose: The project aims (a) to develop the capacity of the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) to deliver gender equitable programming on civil society and poverty reduction; (b) to provide information and resources for outreach, policy dialogue and programming; (c) to create and sustain poverty reduction initiatives; and (d) to strengthen the ability of civil society organizations to participate in policy dialogue on poverty reduction with communities and government.

Key results to date: In the first year of the project, curriculum development for the master in civil society studies program has commenced and two faculty members have been trained in new and innovative pedagogies. Three master's students have been selected for field work. Work is underway to refurbish the information centre at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM) and, using a book selection tool that was created to assist in the process, 184 current volumes on civil society and poverty have been selected and supplied to the centre. The project Web site has been established and potential pilot sites for rural information centres have been identified. An advisory council has been established which includes members of civil society organizations and further partnerships with civil society organizations are being pursued. The Tanzanian Journal of Development Studies, an academic journal supported by the project, is scheduled to launch soon.